Liz Wanersdorfer stood before a new, lifesaving ambulance dedicated to emergency stroke care in Colorado Springs and beamed with joy.
A few years back, the swift care she received in the Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit, which was parked in her driveway, preserved her quality of life — the ability to see her grandkids grow up, continue playing the clarinet, and having nice dinners with her husband.
Her husband noticed her face droop just after they’d had lunch in their Colorado Springs home on Sept. 11, 2017. Caregivers from the MSTU and AMR arrived at her doorstep within 20 minutes. In the stroke treatment unit, she had a CT scan of her brain. The scan was sent to a neurologist, who noticed a clot in her cerebral artery and ordered caregivers to administer a clot-busting drug.
By the time she arrived at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central, she could move her left arm and leg again. She had a thrombectomy to remove the clot. A mere 53 minutes had passed from onset of the stroke to clot removal.
On a sun-splashed Valentine’s Day, Wanersdorfer celebrated that Colorado Springs would now have its own MSTU, thanks in large part to donors who contributed $750,000 to the Memorial Hospital Foundation. Wanersdorfer was one of them.
“Obviously, it is definitely going to be a lifesaver for so many individuals and not just a lifesaver, but it is just going to make life so much nicer for so many people,” she said. “As more people become aware, they’ll be more attuned to calling 911. This makes treatment so much quicker, not just for people who have had a stroke, but anyone coming into the emergency room because everything doesn’t stop when a stroke victim comes in.”
Since 2016, UCHealth has operated a MSTU that shared time between Aurora and Colorado Springs. Now, both communities have an MSTU dedicated to their communities. In Aurora, the unit was dispatched 2,205 times between 2016 and the end of 2023; in Colorado Springs, the unit was dispatched 3,018 times. Both UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs and UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora have been designated as Comprehensive Stroke Centers, which provide the highest level of stroke care.
The units are equipped with a CT scanner, lab testing equipment and specially trained clinicians who are experts in the care of stroke patients. The units also have a two-way visual and audio communication system (telehealth) that enables a neurologist to examine, diagnose and recommend treatment for patients. The neurologist can read the brain scans, which are electronically sent from the mobile stroke unit, in a matter of minutes and determine whether TNK, a medication that can dissolve blockages (clots) within arteries of the brain, is appropriate to be given immediately, before a patient is transported to a hospital.
It has been shown that the faster clot-busting medications are administered, the more likely the patient will have a good outcome. UCHealth’s original unit was part of a multi-center national study that confirmed that stroke patients cared for in mobile stroke units were treated faster and had better long-term health outcomes compared to those who were transported and received care from standard emergency medical services. The findings were published in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
The most striking result of the study: Patients treated with a clot-busting medication in a mobile stroke unit were nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to have a good outcome – either no lingering symptoms at all or no significant disability despite symptoms – than those rushed by ambulance to a hospital, diagnosed there, and then given the drug.
“We have long known that ‘time is brain’ when it comes to treating stroke. Large numbers of brain cells die each minute they are deprived of oxygen by a blocked artery,” said Dr. Janice Miller, a neurologist and stroke specialist at UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. “A new mobile stroke unit dedicated to Colorado Springs will have a tremendous impact on a stroke patient’s outcome. Data from our unit shows that patients treated in a mobile stroke unit receive a thrombolytic – a clot-busting medication for ischemic strokes – much faster than if they were transported by traditional EMS to a hospital emergency department.”
“Each and every day, the stroke specialists, nurses and mobile stroke unit teams are focusing on providing the fastest and highest quality care possible for patients, and mobile stroke treatment units are key to expediting such treatment. Mobile stroke units are saving lives and improving outcomes,” said Dr. William Jones, the medical director of telestroke and the MSTUs at UCHealth and associate professor of neurology at University of Colorado School of Medicine.
The new MSTU was funded by more than 80 individuals and foundations that contributed philanthropic dollars. UCHealth also provided funding.
“UCHealth is committed to providing the very best stroke care possible, and I would like to express deep appreciation and sincere gratitude to all the donors who made gifts to the Memorial Hospital Foundation to make this new mobile stroke unit a reality,” said Lonnie Cramer, president and CEO of UCHealth’s southern region. “These units have been proven to save lives and reduce long-term disability, and many people in our community will benefit.”
Wanersdorfer spent less than 72 hours in the hospital after her stroke.
“Incredibly, I had no physical or speech limitations and no further treatments were needed,” Wanersdorfer said. “Without the MSTU being in town for its bi-weekly rotation from Aurora, my confirmed diagnosis and time to treatment would have been delayed several hours. My outcome would have been totally different. Because the mobile stroke unit was locally available, I am able to continue my independent lifestyle, play clarinet in the concert band, verbally communicate and be independently mobile, watch my grandchildren grow up and enjoy my retirement.”
“Knowing that stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the world, I consider myself blessed.”